Systems and Methods for Drilling a Well

1. A system for drilling a well, the system comprising: a drilling system comprising a drilling rig with a drill string coupled thereto and with a controller device coupled thereto, wherein the drill string includes a bottom hole assembly (BHA) at one end of the drill string and the BHA includes a drill bit; a processor; a memory coupled to the processor and storing a plurality of instructions executable by the processor, the plurality of instructions executable by the processor including instructions for: receiving measurement while drilling information from the BHA located in a wellbore; responsive to the measurement while drilling information, determining a current BHA location; determining a future BHA location based on the current BHA location and a current trajectory of the BHA; comparing the future BHA location to a target drilling path for the wellbore, and when the future BHA location is a predetermined distance from the target drilling path then generating a plurality of geometric convergence paths, wherein each geometric convergence path provides a convergence solution from the current BHA location toward the target drilling path; determining a distance to drill for drilling by the BHA for each of the geometric convergence paths; determining an overall curvature of each of the geometric convergence paths; determining a time required for drilling each of the geometric convergence paths; selecting one of the plurality of geometric convergence paths responsive to: the distance to drill for each of the geometric convergence paths, the overall curvature of each of the geometric convergence paths, and the time required for drilling each of the geometric convergence paths; providing the selected one of the plurality of geometric convergence paths to the controller device, using the controller device to provide control signals to one or more control systems of the drilling rig to drill the wellbore in accordance with the selected one of the plurality of geometric convergence paths.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the instructions for generating a plurality of geometric convergence paths further include instructions for: obtaining drill plan information relating to a well plan, the drill plan information including at least one of the well plan, seismic data, BHA rate of penetration (ROP), and drift information; and identifying the plurality of geometric convergence paths responsive to at least one of drill plan information.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein the instructions for generating a plurality of geometric convergence paths further include instructions for: limiting the plurality of geometric convergence paths to a predetermined number of convergence paths.

4. The system of claim 2, wherein the instructions for generating a plurality of geometric convergence paths further include instructions for: removing some of the plurality of geometric convergence paths to remove illogical convergence paths.

5. The system of claim 2, wherein the instructions for generating a plurality of geometric convergence paths further include instructions for: comparing the plurality of geometric convergence paths to a predetermined rule set.

6. The system of claim 5, wherein the instructions for generating a plurality of geometric convergence paths further include instructions for: removing a portion of the plurality of geometric convergence paths from further consideration for violating rules of the predetermined rule set.

7. The system of claim 6, wherein the rules of the predetermined rule set include one or more rules that define a threshold for maximum allowable dogleg severity.

8. The system of claim 6, wherein the rules of the predetermined rule set include one or more rules that define a threshold for a maximum allowable overall curvature.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein the instructions for selecting one of the plurality of geometric convergence paths further include instructions for: selecting one of the plurality of geometric convergence paths responsive to geometric drift associated with the plurality of geometric convergence paths.

10. The system of claim 1, wherein the instructions for selecting one of the plurality of geometric convergence paths further include instructions for: normalizing each of the plurality of geometric convergence paths against a longest convergence path.

11. The system of claim 1, wherein the instructions for determining an overall curvature of each of the geometric convergence paths further include instructions for: determining a peak drill path curvature associate with drilling each of the plurality of geometric convergence paths.

12. The system of claim 1, wherein the instructions for determining the time required for drilling each of the plurality of geometric convergence paths further include instructions for: determining a time required to for drilling a plurality of segments making up a geometric convergence path of the plurality of geometric convergence paths.

13. The system of claim 1, wherein the instructions for determining the time required for drilling each of the plurality of geometric convergence paths further include instructions for: determining the time required for drilling each of the plurality of geometric convergence paths is responsive to a rate of penetration (ROP) for a slide, a slide distance, an ROP for rotation, a rotation distance and a setup time for the slide.

14. A method for drilling a well, the method comprising: providing a drilling system comprising a drilling rig with a drill string coupled thereto, wherein the drill string includes a bottom hole assembly (BHA) at one end of the drill string and the BHA includes a drill bit; providing a control system communicatively coupled to a drilling control system of the drilling system; determining, by the control system, a current BHA location in a wellbore; determining, by the control system, a future BHA location based on the current BHA location and a current trajectory of the BHA; comparing, by the control system, the future BHA location to a target drilling path for the wellbore, and when the future BHA location is a predetermined distance from the target drilling path then generating, by the control system, a plurality of geometric convergence paths, wherein each geometric convergence path provides a convergence solution from the current BHA location toward the target drilling path; determining, by the control system, a distance to drill for drilling by the BHA for each of the geometric convergence paths; determining, by the control system, an overall curvature of each of the geometric convergence paths; determining, by the control system, a time required for drilling each of the geometric convergence paths; selecting, by the control system, one of the plurality of geometric convergence paths responsive to the distance to drill for each of the geometric convergence paths, the overall curvature of each of the geometric convergence paths, and the time required for drilling each of the geometric convergence paths; providing, by the control system, the selected one of the plurality of geometric convergence paths to the drilling control system of a drilling rig; and drilling, by the drilling control system, a wellbore in accordance with the selected one of the plurality of geometric convergence paths.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the step of generating, by the control system, a plurality of geometric convergence paths further comprises: obtaining, by the control system, drill plan information relating to a well plan, the drill plan information including at least one of the well plan, seismic data, BHA ROP, and drift information; and identifying, by the control system, the plurality of geometric convergence paths responsive to at least one of drill plan information.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the step of generating, by the control system, a plurality of geometric convergence paths further comprises: limiting, by the control system, the plurality of geometric convergence paths to a predetermined number of convergence paths.

17. The method of claim 15, wherein the step of generating, by the control system, a plurality of geometric convergence paths further comprises the step of removing, by the control system, some of the plurality of geometric convergence paths to remove illogical convergence paths.

18. The method of claim 15, wherein the step of generating, by the control system, a plurality of geometric convergence paths further comprises comparing, by the control system, the plurality of geometric convergence paths to a predetermined rule set to remove a portion of the plurality of geometric convergence paths from further consideration for violating rules of the predetermined rule set.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein the rules of the predetermined rule set include one or more rules that define a threshold for maximum allowable dogleg severity.

20. The method of claim 18, wherein the rules of the predetermined rule set include one or more rules that define a threshold for a maximum allowable overall curvature.

21. The method of claim 14, wherein the step of selecting, by the control system, one of the plurality of geometric convergence paths is further responsive to geometric drift associated with the plurality of geometric convergence paths.

22. The method of claim 14, wherein the step of selecting, by the control system, one of the plurality of geometric convergence paths further comprises: normalizing, by the control system, each of the plurality of geometric convergence paths against a longest convergence path.

23. The method of claim 14, wherein the step of determining, by the control system, an overall curvature of each of the geometric convergence paths further comprises the step of determining, by the control system, a peak drill path curvature associate with drilling each of the plurality of geometric convergence paths.

24. The method of claim 14, wherein the step of determining, by the control system, the time required for drilling each of the plurality of geometric convergence paths further comprises: determining, by the control system, a time required to for drilling a plurality of segments making up a geometric convergence path of the plurality of geometric convergence paths.

25. The method of claim 14, wherein the step of determining, by the control system, the time required for drilling each of the plurality of geometric convergence paths is further responsive to a rate of penetration (ROP) for a slide, a slide distance, an ROP for rotation, a rotation distance and a setup time for the slide.